5 Times the National Guard Was Used (& What It Means for the Pipeline Protesters)

A Maryland Army National Guard Soldier keeps watch in front of City Hall in Baltimore, April 28, 2015. Photo: Wikimedia Commons

On Thursday, North Dakota Governor Jack Dalrymple called on the state’s National Guard to contain contentious protests against the Keystone pipeline, which threatens Native lands and water supplies. The decision comes after private security guards unleashed attack dogs on protesters this weekend, sparking further violence authorities predictably blamed on demonstrators.

A summons of National Guard services usually indicates a growing tide of opposition to government policies and the established order. It is almost always accompanied by inordinate numbers of police officers.

Governors often activate National Guard when violence erupts amid tense societal and political rifts. But while calling in troops may be effective at stopping superficial violence (by threatening or using violence), doing so provides a reliable excuse for the authorities to ignore the original reasons for that “unrest.”

Here are five modern instances of National Guard intervention in domestic affairs and what these historical examples mean for North Dakota:

Further, following the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King in 1968 — which the FBI may have assisted — black Americans were outraged and rioted again. This prompted the activation of multiple state National Guards and amounted to thousands of troops per city, including Baltimore, Chicago, and Washington, D.C.

More recently, National Guard troops were called into Ferguson and Baltimore amid recent protests against police brutality.

2. The Anti-War Movement: In 1968, the trend of dissent against the State continued. This time, it was against the Vietnam War. The National Guard was activated in Chicago, Illinois to shut down protests at the Democratic National Convention, where scorned President Lyndon B. Johnson chose not to seek re-election. Protesters (and eventually, rioters), were discontent with the corruption and warmongering of the leftist faction of the two-­party system and thousands took to the streets. In addition to thousands of police officers who instigated violence, the National Guard helped to put down the unrest and break up the protests.

3. The Rodney King Riots: In April of 1992,­ police officers were acquitted of the brutal 1991 beating of intoxicated black motorist Rodney King in northern Los Angeles. The verdict defied video evidence and riots broke out across Los Angeles. Nearly 10,000 National Guard troops were summoned to stop the riots and looting. This proved that the government’s tactic of sending in troops to stop violent protests (precipitated by violence and racism by the government) as it had in the 1960s had failed. It also proved that the state refused to learn its lesson.

4. Waco, TX and the Branch Davidians­: When the Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms division learned that David Koresh, leader of the religious sect, Branch Davidian, was allegedly harboring illegal weapons, they attempted to raid his facility in Waco, TX. This led to deaths on both sides and the FBI’s entry into the conflict. After 51 days, the larger, infamous raid ensued. Though small in number, the National Guard was called in to back up the federal government. Shortly after, Koresh’s compound was set on fire and 80 people died, including women and children.

Though the government’s official story is that the Davidians themselves started the blaze, controversy and distrust of this narrative still run rampant. Koresh and his followers may have been insane and engaged in illicit activity, but the conduct of the FBI and outcome of the 1993 raid is still angrily disputed. The massive show of force is not.

Clearly, governments have a tendency to call in the National Guard when “order” is disturbed.

Even more so, the National Guard is deemed necessary when the people revolt against oppressive treatment from government. Though riots and violence are never preferable, calling in the National Guard to treat symptoms of underlying abuse is like prescribing pills to treat disease without examining diet, lifestyle, or other contributing factors.

But what does the activation of the National Guard mean for the protesting tribes in North Dakota? To an extent, this can be answered with one more historical event — the incident at Wounded Knee. On February 27, 1973, 200 Lakota (Sioux) activists seized the town of Wounded Knee, South Dakota, where the U.S. cavalry slaughtered a group of tribespeople in 1890 when they refused to disarm themselves in a standoff on their land. The 1973 protest came as a result of broken promises and failed treaties. After the National Guard was called in to join federal marshals, gunfire broke out for days, leading to the deaths of two protesters and the paralysis of one federal agent.

On May 8, the Native protesters surrendered, and while the standoff over the pipeline is unlikely to result in gunfire for days on end, the government has come down on the side of the powerful, not the people — just as it did in 1973.

On Friday, a U.S. judge ruled against the Sioux tribe’s request that the court block the pipeline, meaning further demonstrations are inevitable. Though the use of National Guard troops coupled with the court ruling signal ominous outcomes for protesters, it will undoubtedly inspire further impassioned dissent. To their credit, the Department of Justice, the Department of the Interior, and the Department of the Army appeared to side with protesters in a statement issued shortly after the court ruling.

Regardless, as the corporate media ignores and downplays the tense situation, the internet and social media areserving as valuable tools to raise awareness, embolden dissent, and build a global community in support of those standing against the pipeline.

Regardless, calling in troops signals the government has no desire to accommodate the people. Rather, it would prefer to continue perpetuating the problems that led them to summon the Guard in the first place.

About the author

Carey Wedler joined Anti-Media as an independent journalist in September of 2014. Her topics of interest include the police and warfare states, the Drug War, the relevance of history to current problems and solutions, and positive developments that drive humanity forward. She currently resides in Los Angeles, California, where she was born and raised.

About ew

ew came of age during the winddown to the Vietnam War, and like many other Americans, as soon there wasn't an issue that didn't affect him personally, he became indifferent. This gradually changed during the Reagan and Bush I years, continued through the Clinton years and finally came to a head with the passage of the Patriot Act in 2001. He works as a freelance consultant/tester for various music hardware and software companies, and lives in Minnesota with his cat and other weird and wonderful noise machines.